The Vandals came into their game against Northern Illinois on a high note, picking up their second win of the season against Pacific in the Thanksgiving Jam. Northern Illinois was also coming off a victory, beating Eastern Illinois 90-70.
NIU started this game hot, getting the first baskets of the game to go up 4-0. Fifth year guard Divant’e Moffitt then made a nice cross-over to the baseline before flipping the ball into the corner to freshman center Nigel Burris for a wide open three. The next 10 minutes were full of misses and defense as very few shots went through the net. Both teams were able to take a break at the seven-minute media timeout as the Vandals held a 16-15 lead.
Coming out of the timeout, both teams finally started to score. The Vandals did not stop scoring as a Moffitt three pointer pushed the game to 27-22. Junior forward/center Isaac Jones then made two free throws to extend the lead 29-22. After the free throws, Moffit hit another three to make it 32-22. The Huskies stopped the bleeding with a layup to cut the lead to eight, but that eight-point lead was quickly extended. Moffitt, from the top of the key, hit a buzzer-beating three to put the Vandals up 35-24 heading into the locker room.
Shooting got off to a slow start for both teams in the first half. NIU shot 9/28 from the field, 2/8 from three-point range and went 4/7 from the free throw line. The Vandals went 13/28 from the field, 6/16 from three and a perfect 3/3 from the free throw line. Moffitt led the vandals with 14 points.
The second half was a nightmare for the Huskies as Moffitt was making everything he shot. He made four of the first six Idaho jumpers, pushing the lead to 50-30. The Vandals outscored the Huskies 49-23 in the second half, cruising to an 84-47 win. Idaho now sits at 3-5 and with two wins in a row.
The second half, from start to finish, was all Vandals. Their defense was smothering, holding the Huskies to 9/26 from the field,1/6 from three and 4/7 from the free throw line in the second half. This brought them to a total of 18/54 from the field, 3/14 from three-point range and 8/14 from the free throw line.
On the flip side, the Vandals were hot all night, but they really shined in the second half. They were 18/28 from the field, 5/12 from three and 8/9 from the free throw line. In total, the Vandals were 31/56 from the field, 11/28 from three and 11/12 from the free throw line.
The first half was a struggle for both teams, but Moffitt was happy with the defense, he just needed shots to fall
“We were playing good defense, but shots were not falling,” Moffitt said.
Head coach Zac Claus loved the team’s performance.
“Beyond thrilled for our guys,” Claus said. “We’re getting more reps and more game experience.”
Moffitt led the Vandals in scoring with 22 points. He was an efficient 9/13 from the field, 3/5 from three-point range, gave out five dimes and was a perfect 1/1 from the free throw line. Jones added 17 points and seven rebounds, hitting six of his nine shot attempts and all five of his free throws. Burris added 11 points and had seven rebounds. He was 4/6 from the field and 2/3 from beyond the arc.
NIU junior guard Keshawn Willams led them with 10 points. Willams struggled from the field going 4/14 overall and 2/4 from three. Sophomore guards Zarique Nutter and David Coit each added eight points.
The Vandals will be back home on Dec. 6 against the University of North Dakota at 6 p.m. They will look to reach 4-5 on the season and extend their winning streak to three games.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JaydenBarfuss10